Running head: INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 1 A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS A dissertation presented By Marissa Lombardi To The Faculty of the Department of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts October 2011
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Running head: INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 1
A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS
A dissertation presented
By
Marissa Lombardi
To The Faculty of the Department of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Education
Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts
October 2011
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 2
The IDI can assess intercultural competence at the individual, group and organizational
level. It is a theory based instrument consisting of 50 statements that respondents score using a
5-point response set ranging from “agree” to “disagree”, and can be taken either in paper form or
online (Paige, 2004). The IDI has alpha coefficients of .80 to .84 for the five scales (Hammer,
Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003). A three-day qualifying seminar, with a tuition of $1300-$1500, is
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 30
mandatory for those who wish to use the IDI, and each instrument costs $10. The instrument
must be trainer-scored or scored by the Intercultural Communication Institute, and is available in
various languages. Information on trainings and purchasing the instrument can be found at
http://www.idiinventory.com/
Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory
Purpose and application.
The CCAI is a widely used self-assessment tool developed by Kelley and Meyers
(1995b). It was designed to assess an individual’s effectiveness in cross-cultural interaction and
communication, both domestically and abroad. The CCAI measures four variables: Emotional
Resilience, Flexibility and Openness, Perceptual Acuity, and Personal Autonomy (Davis &
Finney, 2006). Emotional Resilience refers to one’s ability to cope with the stresses and
ambiguity inherent to new cultural environments. Flexibility and Openness reflects the extent to
which these abilities are present in regards to new ways of thinking and behaving in diverse
cultural contexts. Perceptual Acuity assesses one’s ability to identify and interpret both verbal
and nonverbal cultural communication cues. Personal autonomy measures an individual’s sense
of identity and ability to respect differing cultural values.
The CCAI helps its respondents understand the qualities that can increase intercultural
effectiveness, develop intercultural communication skills, and make an informed decision about
one’s readiness to live/study/work abroad. This instrument is used in academia, business, and
government settings to strengthen cultural and diversity training programs and to promote
cultural awareness within the classroom, student affairs, resident life, or in study
abroad/community programs.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 31
Availability, Reliability, and Scoring.
The CCAI is a 50-item survey that uses a 6-point Likert scale response format ranging from
“definitely not true” to “definitely true”. Kelly and Meyers (1995a) reported the results of their
study with a normative sample (N = 653). Internal consistency reliability coefficients ranged
from .68 to .82 on the four scales and .90 overall. Formal training is not required to use the
CCAI, although users should have a training background and/or undergraduate degree (Kelley
and Meyers, 1995a). Each instrument costs $9-10 dollars (Sinicrope, C., Norris, J., Watanabe,
Y., 2006). The instrument may be purchased through a variety of companies that specialize in
development and assessment such as Vangent (http://www.jvrcatalogue.com/?p=352).
Cross-Cultural World-Mindedness Scale
Purpose and application.
The Cross-cultural Worldmindedness Scale (CCWMS) is an instrument that evaluates attitudes
towards race, religion, world government, war, patriotism, and global education. The key
concept assessed by the CCWMS is “worldmindedness”, which is defined as “positive attitudes
towards issues such as immigration, world government, and world economic justice (Paige,
2004, p 113)”. The scale is used for study-abroad pre-departure and re-entry programs to detect
value orientations and shifts, and can also be used to test study abroad outcomes. The CCWMS
draws on the earlier work of Sampson and Smith (1957) and Sivernail (1979).
Availability, Reliability, and Scoring
The 26-item scale, developed by Der-Karabetian (1993), uses a 6-point Likert-style
response format ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. Based on a survey
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 32
conducted by 10 nations, Der-Karabetian (1992) reports that the CCWMS internal reliability
varied between countries from .69 (India) to .90 (England), while the alpha coefficients were .80
to .85 for two U.S. samples. There are no training requirements for the CCWMS, and it can be
either trainer scored or self-scored. The CCWMS is available at no cost in Der-Kerabetian
(1992).
Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory
Purpose and application.
The Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory (ICSI) (Bhawuk & Brislin, 1992) is able to
measure one’s ability to modify behavior in culturally appropriate ways when coming into
contact with diverse cultures. More specifically, the ICSI measures the cultural constructs of
individualism, collectivism, and flexibility and open-mindedness. The ICSI offers an opportunity
to explore cultural identity through the assessment of one’s cultural value orientations and
flexibility in adapting to new cultures or people (Paige, 2004). The instrument measures
intercultural sensitivity, while the role of language competence and developmental aspects of
intercultural competence over time are not considered.
Availability, reliability, and scoring.
The 46 question self-report instrument uses a 7-point Likert scale ranging from “very
strongly agree” to “very strongly disagree”. The instrument is divided into two parts. In the first
part, the respondents answer 16 questions twice, once while imagining to live and work in Japan,
and again while imagining to live and work in the U.S. In the second part, participants respond to
statements intended to measure flexibility and open-mindedness. Based on Bhawuk and Brislin’s
(1992) study, which used two culturally heterogeneous samples, results show strong internal
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 33
consistency reliability with Cronbach alphas for two the samples of .82 and .84 (Paige, 2004).
The ICSI does not require any specific training, is available at no cost in Bhawuk and Brislin
(1992), and can be self-scored.
The Assessment of Intercultural Competence
Purpose and application.
The Assessment of Intercultural Competence (AIC) is a self-assessment tool that
measures the development of intercultural sojourners over time. The instrument was developed
by The Federation of the Experiment of International Living (FEIL) as an initial step to a larger
project of assessing the intercultural outcomes of its programs. FEIL researchers defined
intercultural competence as “a complex of abilities needed to perform effectively and
appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different from
one’s self (Fantini, 2006, p 12)”. Fantini (2006) identified different components from within this
definition including dimensions of intercultural competence (knowledge, attitude, skills, and
awareness), characteristics of intercultural competence, domains of intercultural competence
(relationships, communication, and collaboration), language proficiency, and developmental
level (Sinicrope, Norris, & Watanabe, 2007).
Availability, reliability, and scoring.
In its initial version, this AIC employed both self and other-reported procedures and
interviews lasting approximately one hour. Fantini (2006) reported reliability estimates of .70
and greater factor loadings of .60 and greater for each item on the four dimensions of
intercultural competence: knowledge, attitudes skills, and awareness (Sinicrope, Norris, &
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 34
Watanabe, 2007). All components of the AIC are available at no cost in the Fantini (2006)
appendix.
The Intercultural Sensitivity Scale
Purpose and application
The Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) is a twenty-four item instrument that asks
participants to respond on a Likert scale from one to five with an answer of one equaling strong
disagreement and five equaling strong agreement. The instrument, which was developed by Chen
and Starosta (2000), measures intercultural sensitivity. According to Chen and Starosta (1998),
“the concept of intercultural sensitivity refers to the subjects’ active desire to motivate
themselves to understand, appreciate, and accept differences among cultures (p. 143)”. The
twenty four-questions are grouped under the following five factors: Interaction Engagement,
Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction Confidence, Interaction Enjoyment, and Interaction
Attentiveness.
Availability, reliability, and scoring.
Chen and Starosta (2000) found that the ISS demonstrated high internal consistency with
86 and 88 reliability coefficients in two separate studies. The instrument was found to be
statistically significant (Chen & Starosta, 2000). The developers of this scale have placed it in
the public domain so that it may be freely used in other studies.
Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale
Purpose and application
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 35
The Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale (Pascarella et al., 1994) was specifically
developed for use with college students. This is an eight-item instrument that uses the same
Likert scale as the ISS instrument. The scale “not only includes an assessment of an individual’s
openness to cultural, racial and value diversity, it also taps the extent to which an individual
enjoys being challenged by different ideas, values, and perspectives” (Pascarella et al., 1996).
Reliability, availability and scoring.
The Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale was originally developed through factor
analysis in a longitudinal pilot study. Pascarella et al. (1996) found that the scale had internal
consistency (alpha) reliabilities of 0.83 for the precollege measure and 0.84 for the end-of-first-
year follow-up, dependent measure. The developers of this scale have placed it in the public
domain so that it may be freely used in other studies.
Conclusion
The growing focus on developing interculturally competent students, professionals and
citizens underscores the importance of effectively assessing intercultural competence. In order to
offer the highest quality programs, which accurately reflect institutions’ internationalization
initiatives, educators must understand if relevant objectives of programs, such as study abroad or
language foreign language education, are being met.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 36
Chapter 3: Research Design
Research Questions
There is one overarching research question guiding this study. The main research
question is as follows: To what extent, if any, are Bentley University's internationalization
initiatives, specifically in the undergraduate short-term study abroad arena, increasing
intercultural competence among its students?
The research question was intended to elucidate how, if at all, Bentley University’s
internationalization initiatives, as they relate to study abroad are helping students acquire
intercultural competence. Measuring students’ levels of intercultural competence before and after
their participation in two different study abroad programs examined if short term study abroad
programs are successful at increasing students level of intercultural competence.
Hypotheses
There are two types of statistical hypotheses: null and alternative. “The null hypothesis states
that there is no relation between the measures of the variables (Hoy, 2009, p 70)”. If the null
hypothesis is rejected, we are able to accept the alternative hypothesis. There are six hypotheses
tested in this study, each of which is detailed below:
• Students who participate in STP exhibit an increase in scores from their pre test to their post-test on questions relating to Openness to Diversity.
• Students who participate in STP exhibit an increase in scores from their pre test to their post-test on questions relating to Interaction Engagement.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 37
• Students who participate in STP exhibit an increase in scores from their pre test to their post-test on questions relating to Respect for Cultural Differences.
• Students who participate in STP exhibit an increase in scores from their pre test to their post-test on questions relating to Interaction Enjoyment.
• Students who participate in STP exhibit no significant difference in scores from their pre test to their post-test on questions relating to Interaction Attentiveness.
• Students who participate in STP exhibit no significant increase in scores from their pre test to their post-test on questions relating to Interaction Confidence.
Students who participated in short-term faculty led programs were expected to increase scores
from their pre-test to post-test on Interaction Engagement, Interaction Enjoyment, Openness to
Diversity and Respect for Cultural Differences, while no significant increase was expected for
Interaction Confidence and Interaction Attentiveness. The aforementioned hypotheses were
formulated based on previous research using the same instruments (Forgues, 2005). In Forgues’
(2005) study on the relationship between semester-long study abroad experiences and students
attitudes towards diversity and culture, results showed that Interaction Confidence and
Intercultural Attentiveness did not exhibit an significant increase in scores from pre-test to post-
test. Forgues (2005) surmised that this result was due to the fact that students who choose to
study abroad may already perceive themselves as having those characteristics. The findings from
the aforementioned study, as well as a review of the literature, informed the formulation of the
hypotheses used in this study.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 38
Methodology
This quasi-experimental research was designed to understand if short term study abroad,
which is a Bentley University internationalization initiative aimed at increasing students’ level of
intercultural competence, actually increases intercultural competence among students. According
to Campbell and Stanley (1963), the key difference between quasi-experimental designs and
experimental designs is the use of random assignment. While randomizing improves internal
validity by increasing the researcher’s ability to conclude that treatment outcomes resulted from
the intervention, in many contexts it is not possible for randomization to occur. In particular, in
this specific study, could not randomly assign Bentley students to participate in short term study
abroad programs.
Among the most frequently used quasi-experimental designs is called a “nonequivalent
group design”, which generally requires a pretest and posttest for a treated and comparison
group. According Campbell and Stanley (1963), “One of the most widespread experimental
designs in educational research involves an experimental group and a control group both given a
pre test and a post test, but in which the control group and the experimental group do not have
pre-experimental sampling equivalence (p 47)”. In this study, the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale,
Openness to Diversity Scale, and Demographic questions were administered to students before
and after they participate in a short-term study abroad program.
While the validity of this design is not as strong as it would be under randomized design,
this study does address potential threats to validity. One of the most common threats to the
validity of quasi-experimental designs is selection bias. According to Creswell (2009), a
selection threat occurs when participants are selected who have certain characteristics that
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 39
predispose them to have certain outcomes. In this particular study, participants’ previous
intercultural inclination/exposure was a point of concern. Some research shows that students who
have been raised in immigrant families or students who have multiple cultural identities are more
interculturally competent than those who do not have these characteristics (Suarez-Orozco &
Qin-Hilliard, 2004). That is, students who choose to participate in short-term study abroad
programs are likely different (in terms or intercultural inclination/exposure) than the average
Bentley student, which limits external validity of the study. Consequently, a control group,
composed of a nearly random group of Bentley students (who are enrolled in a required general
education class), was used. Using survey and demographic data, which includes information
regarding students’ previous intercultural exposure; I quantify how the groups are different. This
allows me to address to what extent we can expect the results to be generalizable to the wider
Bentley population, and whether they are likely to be robust to wider audience.
Site and participants
The participants of this study were all undergraduate students attending Bentley
University. Two groups, of approximately 50 students each, were invited to participate in the
study: a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group consisted of students who
participated in a short-term faculty program and completed a pre-test before travel, and a post-
test after travel. The control group, who consisted of students who were enrolled in a general
education course at Bentley University, was used to determine how the study abroad group
compared to the typical Bentley University student population. The control group only
completed the test once, and it was compared to the treatment groups’ pre-test to determine
external validity.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 40
All of the students participating in a short-term study abroad programs in March 2011
were invited to participate in the treatment group. The students invited to participate in the
control group were all enrolled in one of four required general education courses. This group is
representative of the general Bentley student body because every Bentley student must complete
these general education courses. The control group was used to determine if the treatment
population suffers from selection bias. That is, it was used to determine if the treatment group
was significantly different than the general Bentley student body.
Data collection
Instrumentation
Three instruments were used in this study: the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) (Chen
& Starosta, 2000), the Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale (Pascarella et al., 1996), and a
demographic survey designed by the researcher (each instrument is included in the Appendices).
Each of the aforementioned instruments is discussed below.
The Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) is a twenty-four item instrument that asks
participants to respond on a Likert scale from one to five with an answer of one equaling strong
disagreement and five equaling strong agreement. The twenty four-questions are grouped under
the following five factors: Interaction Engagement, Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction
Confidence, Interaction Enjoyment, and Interaction Attentiveness. Chen and Starosta (2000)
found that the ISS demonstrated high internal consistency with 86 and 88 reliability coefficients
in two separate studies. The developers of this scale have placed it in the public domain so that it
may be freely used in other studies.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 41
The second instrument used in this study is the Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale
(Pascarella et al., 1994), which was specifically developed for use with traditional college
students. This is an eight-item instrument that uses the same Likert scale as the ISS instrument.
The scale “not only includes an assessment of an individual’s openness to cultural, racial and
value diversity, it also taps the extent to which an individual enjoys being challenged by different
ideas, values, and perspectives” (Pascarella et al., 1996). The Openness to Diversity/Challenge
Scale was originally developed through factor analysis in a longitudinal pilot study. Pascarella et
al. (1996) found that the scale had internal consistency (alpha) reliabilities of 0.83 for the
precollege measure and 0.84 for the end-of-first-year follow-up, dependent measure. The
developers of this scale have placed it in the public domain so that it may be freely used in other
studies.
The final instrument used in the study is a personal data form that was designed by the
researcher. The personal data form collects basic information about the participants. The
questions on the personal data form will allow the researcher to provide descriptive statistics of
the participants. They also classify students in the two groups set out for the study. Questions
asking for age, gender, class standing, major and race/ethnicity allowed for between-group
comparisons. Several questions about prior international experiences were designed to allow for
discussion of the impact of those experiences on the other two instruments.
Distribution
The data was collected by the Bentley University study abroad office using a survey
distributed online through a system called qualtrics. Students in each group were sent email
messages by the Study Abroad Office, asking them to visit the website where the survey is
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 42
located and to complete the survey online. The Study Abroad Office maintains email address
lists of students who have and who will participate in study abroad programs. The control group
representing the general Bentley population was also emailed the survey by the study abroad
office. Email addresses of students will be obtained from the professors of four general education
courses.
The treatment group was given the anonymous survey approximately one week before
the group travels and again immediately after the group traveled, although in the second
administration of the survey, the demographic information was not collected again. Students
were invited to complete the online survey one week prior to departure, but no longer have
access to the survey once their short-term study abroad program began. The control groups took
the online survey once, during the same time frame that the treatment group took the pretest.
Since the instruments demonstrated internal consistency, a span of two weeks was unlikely to
reveal any changes in the control group (i.e. maturation), which is why the control group only
completed the test once.
Participants in both control and treatment groups were advised of appropriate informed
consent information when they clicked on the link containing the survey, which was in the email
inviting students to participate in the survey. By clicking on the button to proceed to the survey
they indicated their agreement with the informed consent information and their willingness to
participate in the study. Students’ ID numbers were used to link the pre and post-tests. Once the
data was collected, each student ID number was assigned a random number. After the random
numbers were assigned, and there was no trace of the ID number, the study abroad office
released the data to the principal investigator who stored and analyzed the data on SPSS.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 43
Data Analysis
Descriptive Statistics.
Using the SPSS program, the demographic data was analyzed first to determine if the
control and treatment groups were statistically equivalent. The number and standard deviations
of the demographic variables were reported. One column was assigned for the treatment group,
and another column for the control group. A chi-squared test was run for independence for each
variable. For instance, class breakdown, majors, etc. This approach was used for all
demographic, categorical data. Fraenkel and Wallen (2003) define categorical data in the
following way: “Categorical data simply indicate the total number of objects, individuals, or
events a researcher finds in a particular category (p 190)”. The control and treatment group was
compared on a variety of demographic questions including: sex, race, intercultural exposure, and
ISS factor scores between control and treatment group.
Factor Analysis.
In order to break down the many question survey into a few factors, and to and verify that
these factors agree with established results used the ISS, a factor analysis is conducted.
According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2003), factor analysis “is a technique that allows the
researcher to determine if many variables can be described by a few factors” (p 340). By
conducting a factor analysis, the following five factors, which were previously established by
Chen and Starosta (2000), were verified to have a statistically valid breakdown: Interaction
Engagement, Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction Confidence, Interaction Enjoyment,
and Interaction Attentiveness.
Attitudinal Statistics.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 44
Using the factors generated above, two sets of tests were conducted. First, an independent t-test
between the pre-test and the control was run. This shows if there were statistically significant
differences in intercultural competence between the treatment group and the random sample
control group. The report includes:
• means, standard deviations, sample sizes for each group (pre-test and
control) and each factor.
• test statistic t for each factor.
• p-value for each factor, in order to determine significance
Second, a paired t-test between the pre- and posttpest results was conducted. This demonstrates
if there were statistically significant differences resulting from the intervention. The same
criteria noted above were reported:
• means, standard deviations, sample sizes for each group (pre-test and
control) and each factor.
• test statistic t for each factor.
• p-value for each factor
Although researchers commonly assume Likert scales are continuous, the data is more
appropriately analyzed as categorical data. Non-parametric tests were used to verify the
robustness of the t-test results. According to Field (2009)
Non-parametric tests are sometimes known as assumption free tests because they make
fewer assumptions about the type of data on which they can be used. Most of these tests
work on the principal of ranking the data: that is, finding the lowest score and giving it a
rank of 1, then finding the next highest score and giving it a rank of 2, and so on. This
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 45
process results in high scores being represented in large ranks, and low scores being
represented by small ranks. The analysis is then carried out on the ranks rather than the
actual data (p 540).
A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to determine if the scores have increased. Field
(2009) explains that the test is “used in situations in which there are two sets of scores to
compare, but these scores come from the same participants (p 552)”. By running a Wilcoxon
signed rank test for each question, I was also able to show how scores have changed and if the
change is statistically significant. Finally, in order to verify control versus pre treatment results a
chi-squared test was run for each question, which told us if the distribution of answers was
different in a statistically significant way.
Conclusion
In order to offer the highest quality study abroad programs, that accurately reflect such
institutional objectives as graduating “interculturally competent students” or “global citizens”, it
is valuable to measure the acquisition of intercultural competence during short-term study abroad
programs. Measuring the acquisition of intercultural competence in these programs can help
higher education institutions demonstrate that the programs are aligned with internationalization
initiatives at the institutional level. In order to create study abroad programs that reflect broader
institutional internationalization initiatives, educators must have an understanding of which
programs are effective (in terms of increasing intercultural competence), and to which degree
they are effective.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 46
Chapter 4: Results
Descriptive Statistics Results
There were three key findings that emerged from this study. First, participants’ overall
levels of intercultural competence and openness to diversity increased after short-term study
abroad experiences. Second, students’ who were culturally exposed prior to their short-term
study abroad experience improved scores in more areas than those who were not previously
interculturally exposed. Finally, after comparing the control and treatment groups, the two
groups were found to be virtually identical.
All students who participated in a short-term faculty-led program in March 2011 were
invited to participate in the study. There were 39 undergraduate students in this group: 20
undergraduate students responded to the pretest, while thirteen responded to the posttest and
were included in the data analysis. This produced a response rate of 33 percent. Participants’
short-term program destinations for this study were varied: Ireland and Poland (30.8%), England
(15.4%), Italy (30.8%), and Spain (15.4%). Table 1 shows the participant answers on each of the
demographic survey items. These items were designed to solicit information regarding
demographics and previous cultural exposure.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 47 Table 1: Responses to Demographic Survey Variable Response N % Major Accountancy 4 30.8
African American 0 0.0 Hispanic 0 0.0 Asian 2 15.4
Total 13 100.0 Country of Citizenship US 13 100.0 Dual citizenship 0 0.0 Country other than the US 0 0.0 Total 13 100.0 Class Freshman 2 15.4 Sophomore 3 23.1 Junior 4 30.8 Senior 4 30.8 Total 13 100.0 Studied Second Language Yes 13 100.0 No 0 0.0 Total 13 100.0 Travel/reasons besides STP Never 2 15.4 Once 3 23.1 2-3 times 5 38.5 4-7 times 1 7.7 8+ times 2 15.4 Total 13 100.0 Time abroad prior to STP? 1 day to 2 weeks 8 61.5 More than 2 weeks, less than 4 2 15.4 1-3 months 1 7.7 Total 11 84.6 Previously Studied Abroad Yes 3 23.1 No 10 76.9 Total 13 100.0 Duration of Study Abroad 1-2 weeks 1 7.7 2-4 weeks 1 7.7 1-2 months 1 7.7 Total 3 23.1 Relationship/other culture 0 4 30.8 2 5 38.5 5 or more 4 30.8 Total 13 100.0 # culturally focused classes 0 4 30.8 1 2 15.4 2 3 23.1 3 1 7.7 5 or more 3 23.1 Total 13 100.0 Liberal Studies Majors I am not a LSM 5 38.5 Global Perspectives 3 23.1 Health and Industry 2 15.4 Media Arts and Society 3 23.3 Total 13 100.0 Program GLS 270 (Ireland, Poland) 4 30.8 ID 245 (England) 2 15.4 MK 344 Retailing (Italy) 4 30.8 ML 298 (Spain) 2 15.4 Other 1 7.7 Total 13 100.0
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 48
The data reported in Table 1 demonstrates that the majority of students reported
Accountancy (30.8%) and Marketing (30.8%) as majors. The other majors reported by
participants included Corporate Finance and Accounting (7.7%), Economics and Finance (7.7%),
Management (15.4%), and Mathematical Sciences (7.7%). The gender distribution was
representative of national averages. From 1999-2009, the national averages for US study abroad
students ranged from 64.2%-65.6% for females, and 34.4%-35.8% for males (Institute of
International Education, 2010). In this study, women represented 61.5% of the sample, while
men represented 38.5% of the sample. The results for race and ethnicity were also consistent
with national averages, with 84.6% of participants in this study identifying as White/Caucasian.
From 1999-2009, US White/Caucasian students represented 80.5%-84.3% of the total US study
abroad student population (Institute of International Education, 2010).
There were more juniors and seniors (61.6%) represented than freshman and sophomores
(38.5%) in this study. Participants’ reported their class standings as follows: 15.4% freshmen,
23.1% sophomores, 30.8% juniors, and 30.8% seniors. The majority of participants were Liberal
Studies Majors (LSM) (61.5%). Bentley University has defined the LSM option as follows: “The
LSM is an optional double major. It does not stand alone, but is an interdisciplinary second
major that is paired with a primary major in a business discipline or with one of the arts and
sciences majors requiring a significant business component. The impulse behind the LSM is to
help students increase the value and make meaning out of their liberal arts education at Bentley
by combining some required courses in the general education curriculum with arts and science
electives and some business electives under specific themes or concentrations (Retrieved June
30, 2011 from http://www.bentley.edu/academic-services/day/Majors/lsm.cfm#overview)”. The
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 49
LSM majors represented in the sample were: Global Perspectives (23.1%), Health and Industry
(15.4), and Media arts and Society (23.3%).
All participants reported having studied a second language, and 84.6% of students
reported previous travel abroad for reasons other than study. Of the students who had spent time
outside their home country for reasons other than study, 61.5% reported that their longest sojourn
was between 1 day and two weeks, 15.4 reported it was between two weeks and a month, and
7.7% reported it was between one month and three months. The data reported in Table 1 also
demonstrates that 23.1 of the sample studied abroad prior to participating in this study, while
76.9 did not.
Finally students were asked to report how many close relationships they had experienced
with someone from another culture. The participants were fairly evenly distributed on this
dimension: No close relationships (30.8%), two close relationships (28.5%), and five or more
(30.8%). The number of culturally focused courses students reported completing prior to
participation in the short-term program was quite varied: No courses (30.8%), one course
(15.4%), two courses (23.1%), three courses (7.7%), five or more courses (23.1%).
Attitudinal Survey Results
The main research question in this study asked: “To what extent, if any, are Bentley
University’s internationalization initiatives, specifically in the undergraduate short-term study
abroad arena, increasing intercultural competence among its students”? To answer this question,
both pre-tests and post-tests designed to quantitatively measure various components of
intercultural competence, were distributed to participants before and after their short-term study
abroad experience. As outlined in the Methodology section, participants completed two
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 50
instruments regarding their attitudes towards diversity and different cultures: the Intercultural
Sensitivity Scale and the Openness to Diversity Scale. The Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) is
a twenty-four item instrument that asks participants to respond on a Likert scale from one to five
with an answer of one equaling strong disagreement and five equaling strong agreement. The
instrument, which was developed by Chen and Starosta (2000), measures intercultural
sensitivity. According to Chen and Starosta (1998), “the concept of intercultural sensitivity refers
to the subjects’ active desire to motivate themselves to understand, appreciate, and accept
differences among cultures (p. 143)”. The twenty four-questions are grouped under the
following five factors: Interaction Engagement, Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction
Confidence, Interaction Enjoyment, and Interaction Attentiveness.
Chen and Starosta (2000) found that the ISS demonstrated high internal consistency with
86 and 88 reliability coefficients in two separate studies. The instrument was found to be
statistically significant (Chen and Starosta, 2000). The developers of this scale have placed it in
the public domain so that it may be freely used in other studies.
The Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale (Pascarella et al., 1994) was specifically
developed for use with college students. This is an eight-item instrument that uses the same
Likert scale as the ISS instrument. The scale “not only includes an assessment of an individual’s
openness to cultural, racial and value diversity, it also taps the extent to which an individual
enjoys being challenged by different ideas, values, and perspectives” (Pascarella et al., 1996).
The Openness to Diversity/Challenge Scale was originally developed through factor
analysis in a longitudinal pilot study. Pascarella et al. (1996) found that the scale had internal
consistency (alpha) reliabilities of 0.83 for the precollege measure and 0.84 for the end-of-first-
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 51
year follow-up, dependent measure. The developers of this scale have placed it in the public
domain so that it may be freely used in other studies.
Table 2 displays statistics from a paired t-test for the entire sample, and lists the mean
and standard deviation for the pre and post-tests on each of the sub-scales. The mean scores on
each factor were compared for both the pre-test and the post-test to determine if a significant
difference existed between the two tests. It is important to note that despite the small sample size,
the mean scores for each of the six factors increased from the pre-tests to the post-tests. This
increase indicates that most of the participants’ post-study abroad scores were higher than their
pre-study abroad scores.
Table 2: Mean Factors for ISS and Openness to Diversity for Pre and Post-tests Paired Samples Statistics
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Pair 1 Pre Interaction engagement 3.9890 13 .50997 .14144
Post interaction engagement 4.2527 13 .46347 .12854 Pair 2 Pre respect for cultural
Differences 4.3590 13 .61931 .17177
Post respect for cultural Differences
4.6154 13 .41042 .11383
Pair 3 Pre Interaction confidence 3.4615 13 .67025 .18589 Post Interaction confidence 3.8000 13 .77889 .21602
Pair 4 Pre Interaction enjoyment 4.1795 13 .53775 .14914 Post Interaction enjoyment 4.2821 13 .63605 .17641
Pair 5 Pre Interaction attentiveness 3.7692 13 .43853 .12163 Post interaction attentiveness 4.3590 13 .48038 .13323
Pair 6 Pre Openness to Diversity 4.2019 13 .66250 .18374 Post Openness to Diversity 4.4423 13 .52444 .14545
For this study, alpha was set at .05 because a 95% confidence level was deemed
sufficient to avoid type 1 error and still find important results. Table 3 demonstrates the
statistical significance of the change in means for each factor. Three of the factors revealed
statistical significance, one factor trended towards significance, and two factors did not uncover
statistical change.
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD 52
Table 3: Test for Equality of Means Results for Overall Sample on Pre and Post-tests Item t df Sig. Mean diff.
Interaction Engagement
1.556 12 .146 .26374
Respect for Cultural
Differences
2.012 12 .067 .25641
Interaction Confidence
2.910 12 .013 .33846
Interaction Enjoyment
.843 12 .416 .10256
Interaction Attentiveness
4.308 12 .001 .58974
Openness to Diversity
2.221 12 .046 .24038
While all of the factor scores increased from pre-test to post-test, three of the factors